HTML5 is the current standard for structuring and presenting content within a browser. HTML5 introduced features for handling multimedia natively including the <video> element for embedding video within any web page and the associated Document Object Model (DOM) for enabling access to the <video> element using JavaScript. Using the <video> element, a video can be embedded into any web page and played within any browser that supports HTML5.
A number of player APIs have been developed to facilitate using a third party video player. For example, Google provides the IFrame Player API that developers can employ to embed YouTube videos into their web pages, and Vimeo provides the Player API for embedding Vimeo videos. In each case, these player APIs are built upon the HTML5 DOM. It is also possible to develop a custom player that interfaces directly with the HTML5 DOM as opposed to employing a third party API. The present invention can be implemented to employ any of these third party APIs or to interface directly with the HTML5 DOM.